THOUSANDS of sports fans shunned the Wimbledon final for some real excitement at the second Hinckley soapbox derby.

The all-action event lived up to its billing as more than 20 teams put their bodies on the line to race down Castle Street and take on the new addition to the track - the chicane.

This got the better of some riders, although the bumps and bruises that were suffered were seen as well worth it as about £2,000 was raised for local charities.

And Jonathan White from organisers Hinckley Bid could not be happier with how the day went and already has his sights set on a 2012 event.

He said: “We made some changes that were put to us after last year’s event which included a chicane in the track which added some excitement.

“We had one person come up from Hampshire but he only made it to the first chicane before a wheel came off. We also had two blokes from Barnsley and they said they are going to be coming back next year.

“It was a great day and an opportunity for us to get our message across and promote the town. We had about 4,000 people in the town throughout the day and a typical Sunday is about 2,000. It is the sort of thing that brings the community together.

“Our aim is to make it bigger and better for next year and continue to build on what we have already done.”

He added: “A big thanks to The Hinckley Times for all their help as there were lots of people there who had seen it in the paper.”